How to delete all contacts on the Xiaomi phone: Step-by-step instructions

Many Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphone users face the need to completely clean up their phone numbers, whether it’s selling a device, handing it over to another family member, or simply putting things in order in the digital space. Often, thousands of duplicates, old records, and unnecessary numbers are accumulated in memory that interfere with the normal operation of the phone book. The cleanup process may seem simple, but there are nuances in the MIUI shell that it’s important to know so you don’t lose the data forever.

There are several ways to do this, from manually deleting groups to completely resetting through a Google account or system settings, depending on where your data is stored. SIM-In the card, in the phone's internal memory, or in the cloud, the wrong actions can make it impossible to recover important numbers, so the procedure should be approached consciously. In this article, we will discuss all the options available in detail and help you choose the safest and most effective way.

Before you start taking drastic measures, make sure you have a backup of your important data. Even if you plan to sell your phone, you may need some of the numbers in the future. We'll look at the tools built into Android, as well as the specific features that the Xiaomi ecosystem offers. Understanding the structure of your contacts' storage will allow you to manage them with maximum efficiency.

Preparing for deletion and backup

Any manipulation of large amounts of data should start with backup. It's the golden rule of digital hygiene that will save you from losing important information. On Xiaomi smartphones, contacts are most often synchronized with your Google account, which makes it much easier to save and restore them. If you just want to clean the list but are afraid of making a mistake, exporting to the file will become your safety rope.

To create an archive, open the standard Contacts app and search the Contact Management menu for an export option that will save all records in.vcf. This file can be sent to yourself by email or saved to cloud storage. Unlike simple synchronization, you will still have a copy of the file even in case of an account problem.

⚠️ Attention: Deleting contacts from your Google account through your phone settings will cause them to disappear on all devices that log in to that account!

It's also worth checking where the new numbers are saved by default, and users often don't notice that the new entries are flying to the default location. SIM-A card that has limited memory and doesn't support long names or extra fields, and it's a smart move to transfer data to internal memory or the cloud before it's cleaned. This will ensure compatibility with future smartphones and allow you to use the advanced capabilities of data organization.

• 📂 Open the Contacts app and go to Settings.
• 💾 Select the item “Import / Export contacts” to create a copy file.
• ☁️ Make sure your sync with Google is complete and error free.
• 📸 Take a screenshot of important groups or selected numbers just in case.

Delete contacts through your Google Contacts account

The most efficient and modern way to manage a phone book is to use a web interface or a separate Google Contacts app. Because the MIUI shell is closely integrated with Google services, cleaning through this channel ensures that data disappears wherever it is synced, which is especially handy if you are preparing a phone for sale and want to make sure that the old numbers do not “pop up” after the reset.

Go to your phone settings, select Accounts and Sync, and click on your Google account. Make sure that the contact box is synced. You can then go to the Google Contacts app or to contacts.google.com from your computer, and it allows you to select contact groups or even all of your entries at the top of the list.

Once you have highlighted all the unnecessary entries, click on the basket icon or three-dot menu and select Delete.The system will ask you to confirm the action, as it is irreversible without using a backup. If you use the web version, there is a handy "Cancel" feature there within a short time after the action, which gives you a chance to correct an accidental error. On the phone itself, this option may not be available, so the Google Contacts web interface is considered the safest place for mass removal.

Once cleaned on a Google server, your Xiaomi phone will automatically update the list if you have the Internet, and you will notice that the numbers will start disappearing from the phone book in real time, which confirms that synchronization works correctly, and if you want to delete contacts only from the device but leave them in the cloud, you will need to temporarily disable sync before deleting, which is a more complex and risky procedure.

Cleaning the phone book through the MIUI app

The built-in Contacts app in the MIUI shell also provides powerful tools for working with the list of numbers, although the interface may be different from pure Android.To delete all entries locally, open the app and click on the menu button or three dots in the corner of the screen. You will need a section called Packet Deletion or similar that allows you to highlight many entries at once.

Unlike manually removing one number, batch mode allows you to select hundreds of entries at once. However, it is worth considering that some versions of MIUI have a limit on the number of allocated contacts at a time. If you have a list of several thousand numbers, the procedure may have to be repeated several times. Press "Select all" or select the desired groups manually, and then confirm the deletion.

⚠️ Note: When removed through the application MIUI without Google binding, data can only disappear from the current device.

The important thing is to filter the contacts you see, and you can choose from the app settings whether you're just showing numbers from your phone, from your phone, from your phone. SIM-If your goal is to delete contacts only from the SIM, Make sure that the filter is selected. SIM-This will prevent the device from accidentally erasing data from the memory of the smartphone, and after the operation, it is recommended to restart the device so that the system correctly recalculates the index of the phone book.

• 📱 Launch the “Contacts” app on your desktop.
• 🔍 Click on the menu and select “Settings” or “Show contacts».
• 🗑️ Use the “Package Deletion” function to select multiple records.
• ✅ Confirm the operation and wait for the cleaning process to be completed.

Removal of contacts saved on SIM-map

SIM-The cards are a thing of the past in terms of data storage, but still many users keep important numbers there. SIM-The card has extremely limited memory and does not support long names or avatars. To delete contacts stored directly on the SIM, you need to use the system settings Xiaomi.

Go to Settings. → Annexes → All applications and find the system app Contacts and Telephony or just Contacts. MIUI management SIM-The map is placed in a separate menu in the general settings of the system. SIM-cards, where the button “Copy contacts” or “Delete contacts with” is often present SIM».

If standard means to find this option is not possible, you can use third-party utilities from Google Play, which specialize in management. SIM-However, Xiaomi's built-in tools usually do this without installing additional software, and the key is not to confuse deletion with copying, so as not to create duplicates in internal memory.

After cleaning. SIM-The card is recommended to be removed and inserted again so that the phone reads the contents of the chip again, which ensures that there are no “dead” records left in the phone book that can be visually displayed but have actually been deleted. This simple manipulation helps to avoid confusion in the future.

Complete resetting as a radical method

If your goal is to prepare a Xiaomi phone for sale or transfer to another person, removing contacts one by one may not be enough, in which case the most sensible solution is to completely reset the settings to factory state (Factory Reset), this procedure removes not only the contacts, but also all applications, photos, messages and settings of the system.

Before performing a reset, it is critical to make a full backup of all data. Go to Settings → About Phone → Settings Reset. The system will warn you that all data will be destroyed. Make sure you know the password from your Mi Account and Google account, as after the reset, the phone will require them to confirm ownership (FRP protection).

Once the reset is complete, the phone will look like you just pulled it out of the box. No contacts, no trace of your use. It's the only guaranteed way to completely clean the device before selling. Remember, it's almost impossible to recover data from such a reset without a pre-created copy even in a service center.

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A complete reset is the only way to ensure that the buyer of your phone does not get access to any of your contacts or files.

Solving and restoring data

Sometimes users are faced with a situation where contacts were deleted accidentally or synced was incorrect. Fortunately, Google services allow you to restore deleted contacts within 30 days, you need to go to the Google Contacts website, click on the gear icon (Settings) and select “Cancel Changes”.

In the window that opens, you can select a time interval: 10 minutes ago, 1 hour, yesterday or date. The system will return the phone book to state at the selected time. This works even if you have already synchronized the blank list from the phone, the main thing is not to delay the recovery. Once the data is returned to the server, it will automatically appear on your Xiaomi when the Internet is turned on.

⚠️ Note: Recovery only works for contacts saved in your Google account. SIM-cards or from local memory without synchronization, can not be restored through this service.

If contacts are lost due to a MIUI malfunction, try clearing the cache and data of the Contacts app itself through the application management menu, which will not delete your numbers (if they are synchronized), but can correct display errors. In extreme cases, you can use the previously created.vcf file to import the saved copy.

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Use the Favorite feature in Google Contacts to tag your most important numbers, which will allow you to quickly find them even in the event of partial data loss or confusion in the list.

Regularly checking the contact list helps keep order. Remove duplicates, combine entries and check the relevance of numbers. Today's Xiaomi smartphones have powerful algorithms for finding duplicates that can be found in the application settings. Don't ignore these tools, as they make life much easier.